Burgeoning foreign direct investment (FDI) into and out of Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, and South Africa -- collectively known as the BRICS - is mounting in global influence, the latest GITM reports, citing new figures.

This is a special edition of the GITM on the occasion of the 5th BRICS Summitbeing staged on 26 and 27 March in Durban, South Africa. The theme of the summit is "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for development, integration, and industrialization." The title of this edition of the GITM is "The Rise of BRICS FDI and Africa."

In addition, the BRICS countries are increasingly investing in Africa, where the greater share of this FDI is going to manufacturing and services, rather than to primary goods such as petroleum and minerals.

The GITM notes that over the past decade, FDI inflows to the BRICS more than tripled to an estimated US$263 billion in 2012, boosting their share of world FDI flows from 6 per cent in 2000 to 20 per cent in 2012. Outward FDI from these countries, meanwhile, has climbed from $7 billion in 2000 to $126 billion in 2012, rising from 1 per cent of world flows to 9 per cent.

Foreign investment from the BRICS into Africa reached 25 per cent of Africa's inflows in 2012, the GITM reports. Furthermore, most FDI projects in Africa funded by the BRICS are in manufacturing and services. Only 26 per cent of the value of such funded projects is in the primary-goods sector.